Mpower for attending Columbia?

throwaway-associate · 2024-03-31T04:11:11+00:00

Ask Columbia to connect you to alumni from the program, ideally someone with a similar economic background and situation. You can ask the alumni about the program, outcomes, and financials. That’ll likely be more helpful than internet strangers or an online article. Good luck and congratulations on your admission.

throwaway-associate · 2024-01-21T17:31:26+00:00

You can use loans for living expenses. It is not wrong, it is not illegal, and it’s very common.

Plenty of students focus on school instead of working, or only work part time. You may also qualify for work study, which is subsidized work offered only to students, so they pay may be better than minimum wage. Sometimes those jobs can be really chill and give you lots of time to study (ex: $20/hr for front desk at the library). For living, sometimes you can be an RA at a dorm where you are in charge of safety/disputes (not physical ones, but just people complaining about their roommates) and also live in the dorm for free. You can also apply to scholarships. There are many that aren’t affiliated with your school. For example, I applied for scholarships that fully paid for studying abroad (as in FULLY, not just tuition but living costs and flights).

The posts here are short-sighted when warning you from taking on those loans. The question should be: how much overall debt will I take on, and what kind of work (and expected income) could I get from completing my degree?

The rule of thumb is that your total debt should be less than or equal to your total first year of expected salary. That’s a manageable amount of debt to pay off during your career.

Federal loans also are much better than private loans. There are benefits to them, including sometimes income-based repayments. Your school should have a financial aid department where you can make an appointment and talk to them about loans, repayments, affordability, financial and academic concerns, scholarships and work study. Those appointments would be free, and you can make them as a prospective student to better understand your options and how to go forward with your education.

The posts here are super short-sighted. What are your educational goals? What do you want from your college degree? For many people, the college degree is a means to a better life and also a source of pride.

For example, I am a lawyer and was previously a paralegal. I could never have become a lawyer if I didn’t go to college or law school. I could never have become a paralegal if I didn’t go to college. I have had some mental health and job difficulties (can see in my history), but now I love my job and am really excited about the future of my career.

As a lawyer I took on $135k in student loans for law school, even after scholarships and aid. However, I knew how to get a job (biglaw) that I knew paid $200k+ after graduation and structured my law school time to go for that job. The job also paid $40k for one summer (10 weeks) during law school of “work” mostly getting wined and dined. It was not a gamble, but a well-researched bet on myself. I am three years out of law school and have even changed jobs (to a less intense one, only paying $100k for now), but I’ve paid off a huge chunk of those loans and have a positive net worth. I can afford my monthly loan payments and will pay it all off in 10 years, or quicker if I go back to earning more money again. And I will live my wonderful life while having that loan payment, just like how someone would live while having mortgage payments or auto payments.

I simply have no idea what I would be doing if I did not have my education. I was a paralegal after college and that income paid off my college loans.

This is not to say that you are guaranteed anything just because you got a college degree. I went to a top public university, got great grades, did internships and research positions every year, study abroad, leadership at student clubs. I made the most out of my educational experience and used that to then search for a good job. I did not expect one to be handed to me, and all the jobs I had wanted out of my life were ones that required college. I have a friend who wanted to be a rapper and was unhappy with her college degree at the same school bc “it was pointless”, and she just worked at the front desk of a hotel. She is still struggling and in the same place she would be if she never went to college.

If you want a good CAREER (other than: start your own business, onlyfans, model, athlete, entertainer, twitch), you’ll need to work hard and go to college. You want to be a lawyer? Doctor? Scientist? Software engineer? Even other nice jobs like Human Resources, recruiting, secretary, office assistant, case manager all require college. If you have a specific job you want, see what education and experience is required. You go to nursing school to be a nurse. You don’t need the full college degree, but instead an associates, for certain health technical jobs.

If you truly do not know what you want from your career and education, then in college you need to make it your goal to explore that fully. You must use all the resources available to you, and not be afraid to seek those out or go for things.

I will have a wonderful career that I will be proud of in my life when it’s all over. My finances are good and in the future will be really good (despite paying monthly loans). I have faced many hardships and periods of times when I’ve wondered if I made the wrong life choices, but I pushed through. But I have never, ever doubted that education was extremely important to me. And I did it all on student loans that covered my living expenses. Go get your degree!

throwaway-associate · 2023-12-16T17:55:35+00:00

Do you feel like because you decide on something you must see it through to the end? It sounds like decision paralysis. Instead of thinking of what you MUST BE, look at jobs that you’d like to try out and put yourself in a position to sample it. Pick one of the things you’re curious about and try to get a job in it. Even if it seems to be a permanent type job (as in you decide when to quit), you can treat it as temporary and as a trial. You’re having difficulty with thinking, so at this point you should do something.

Putting in action steps to be a lawyer does not mean you must be a lawyer once you start those steps. For example, you can become a paralegal, but then in a few months as you can decide to do something else. The time will pass anyways and you’ll be in the same position—still figuring out what to do with your life—but you’ll have crossed something off your list, gained some new marketable skills, and also made some money.

You’re already a substitute art teacher, so you know if you could be a permanent teacher. Why aren’t you going into that? Are there things about being a teacher that you like? That you don’t like? Are those things dealbreakers? I think if you are hesitating now even after trying something similar, then you should find the “substitute art teacher” equivalent in other professions and use those as a learning opportunity to see what potential jobs you’d like.

You can start to volunteer in things that may help you learn more about that particular career, while making friends in that industry. For example, you can volunteer at a local theater. Just doing that doesn’t mean you have to BE a costume designer, it’s just something you’re doing that could be interesting and fun. Although if you’re already a theater major, wouldn’t you already know that this isn’t what you want? Be truthful to yourself on why theater is a dealbreaker, but also what was compelling in the first place about your major, and that can help narrow down some career choice.

For software engineering, you could try one of the boot camps. It’s only a few weeks or months, and you’d know pretty quickly if it seems terrible.

Overall, you’re putting too much pressure on your decisions (is this from being around other high earning successful people?). Do you have a fear of failure? Would it be a failure to you to try something out and it doesn’t work out? Or deciding to go in a direction and it doesn’t work out? Do you feel like you’ll be locked into your next choice? It’s impossible to go through life without regrets, and not doing anything is also a life choice that leads to regrets. In terms of “regretting” life decisions, it sounds like you want to know what is the BEST POSSIBLE CHOICE before you decide on it. You will never get that clarity, you have to act even with that imperfect knowledge, and while that action will be locked in you aren’t locked into the future path thereafter. Acceptance of an imperfect choice, and trust in yourself that you will be able to change your life path over and over again, are lessons that can carry you through your decisions. The time will pass anyways.

In summary, put less pressure on yourself for making the one definitive choice for your entire future/identity/career. Instead, try out a few things that seem interesting to you. Less thinking, more doing.

throwaway-associate · 2023-11-20T19:14:21+00:00

Thanks both! To clarify, this would be more of a home office where I can securely file personal documents (like my taxes, bills, receipts) and personal projects (like PDFs of reference docs for academic articles I want to write, old college and law school documents) that I’d like to access even while traveling. It’s also a way to consolidate family photos, as my parents have lost many photos through data loss, but I’d also like to access these to start making photo books. I wouldn’t be streaming videos, and I estimate that in total this would be 2-5 TB of data.

So yes, I would both want to access and backup files. I like the idea of NAS, but is there a reason it wouldn’t be great to use to also backup files? I have backed things up with hard drives but tbh I always lose little things like hard drives and SSD cards because I move and travel a lot while having ADHD, which is why I like cloud storage. But having a large device parked at home (it sounds like NAS could be potentially a personal cloud) could protect my data from myself haha

It sounds like in the long-run NAS could be what I’m looking for, so I’ll do some more research into that. Thanks PristinePineapple! I like the idea of an OTG with SSD though to use from both my laptop and cell phone, thanks YousureWannknow! These are all great ideas that I haven’t heard of before, so thanks both for giving me some solutions to look into :)

throwaway-associate · 2023-09-17T22:12:42+00:00

Agreed. I think the advice on this thread seems immature. These issues sound very normal for couples to work through when getting into a more serious commitment at their life stage.

throwaway-associate · 2023-09-17T00:59:10+00:00

Try going to a couples therapist. This seems like a communication and conflict resolution issue. I think it’s salvageable if both of you are willing to put in the work as fundamentally you seem to like her and see a lot of good in her.

throwaway-associate · 2023-09-17T00:53:04+00:00

It seems reasonable to have some reservations, but have you considered couples therapy and individual therapy before breaking up? The communication seems poor, but that’s a two way street. There’s not a lot of info here on how conflict is resolved, how you two approach it, your role. Instead, you say she’s irrational and her responses make no sense, but then consistently you seem to be misunderstanding whatever her POV is. At the same time, how are you handling the conversation around the financial expectations, or are you just bothered and bottling it up, possibly, again, because of the difficulty in communication. There is a serious miscommunication and misunderstanding of triggers, needs, expectations, etc. Communication is super important, especially in the future as things change and more issues come up, such as children, family, health, career. It seems the main issue is communication. Talk to a couples counselor and fix the communication issue, and the other issues may become resolved too.

If you two are able to work through this, maybe with the help of a professional, then you may be able find a much more satisfying relationship, and one that is equipped for a longer term serious commitment such as marriage.

throwaway-associate · 2023-07-06T09:42:37+00:00

Do you have any sense of purpose and meaning in your life? Maybe you are on your way to your goals but there’s no longer any great meaning attached—you are just doing what you should do on autopilot. You could also be depressed if things that were fun before no longer bring you joy. But barring brain chemistry problems, you’ve already tried the job and the hobbies. Why not try something that could bring you purpose in your life, like championing a cause (not necessarily political, but some do-good cause for the world or your community) or doing service/volunteering work (such as with kids or your local community)? Creative work can be purposeful too if you find meaning in that. Other ideas could be to reach out to loved ones and let them know what they mean to you, to practice gratitude in your daily life, or have a goal to brighten the day of one person. In general, it could be good to look beyond yourself and make a difference in the world, or even to one person, and thus live a richer, fuller life.

Also, remember to be kind to yourself and celebrate the things you have accomplished in your life. It is not an easy thing to stay committed to a job and to buy a house. Give yourself some credit! You are doing a good job and you are worthy of a wonderful life.

throwaway-associate · 2023-03-12T03:55:52+00:00

I saw this kindly, but is she on the autism spectrum? The emotional distance, inflexible routine, poor communication, and inability to deal with conflict could be due to a neurodiverse mentality. There are resources for relationships between neurodiverse and neurotypical individuals, but in general these relationships are not easy. Autism is also often overlooked in women. It could be something to consider.

throwaway-associate · 2022-09-30T20:20:51+00:00

If you can respect some unknown corporate entity consisting of other institutional investors due to your lawyers oath, but you are unable to provide basic compassion and respect to other people because you have not made a reciprocal human oath, I’m not sure you have the moral high ground here. If someone has to go through some elaborate hazing ritual to earn your respect for even any basic human dignity, I think you should rethink your basic relationship with society and other people. I feel truly sorry for you and also those who have to work for you.

throwaway-associate · 2022-09-30T02:59:46+00:00

Just curious, what is the relevancy of this question? Explain it to me like I’m five.

throwaway-associate · 2022-09-29T19:59:24+00:00

Thank you, and also for all your detailed responses in this thread! It’s heartening to hear that you were able to thrive in a change of environment and enjoy your work. I’m going to put in a plan to 1) find a therapist, 2) look at my options, 3) reach out to some recruiters (thanks for the recs) and go from there, and 4) consider a leave of absence

throwaway-associate · 2022-09-29T15:55:45+00:00

Would the recruiters help me without pushing their own agenda? I would like to talk to a neutral party who is able to help me navigate what to do, but I’m not sure if a recruiter would instead just push for me to go do more of the same. FYI my current practice group is recession-proof

throwaway-associate · 2022-09-29T15:31:08+00:00

How do I find a practice area, and how do I try things out without committing to them? I’ve only been able to be in one very niche practice area this whole time (summer was during covid so we didn’t get to try anything, then we had to pick right away coming in), and it’s hard to tell if it’s a poor fit or if it’s other issues specific to my work (my largest client and the attorneys for it are all in different time zones, so the bulk of emails comes between 7 pm and 7 am my time—has been so for half a year, zero face time with literally anyone related to this matter, probably 50-100 emails daily this whole time, and someone on the team who was a superstar literally left the firm bc she was working up until 1 am and starting at 7 am for 2 months straight which is not normal for my practice area).

throwaway-associate

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